Chrysanthemum Book

I really and for all intents and purposes do much love Kevin Henkes' Chrysanthemum and on an intensely personal and emotional level at that, and firmly believe that it is a story to which especially those of us (and really both children and adults) who have unusual, foreign sounding or simply imaginative first names can easily and readily relate (like me, for example, with a given name like Gundula).

And first and foremost, Chrysanthemum is therefore and even simply a sweet and evocative story about loving, about appreciating one's name, about loving oneself, but also very much and even sadly a tale about bullying and schoolyard, classroom harassment and how this is often neither taken seriously enough nor even remotely successfully combatted. For just look at Chrysanthemum's first teacher Mrs. Chud, who annoyingly and really totally in all ways cluelessly does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING USEFUL with regard to Chrysanthemum being relentlessly and loudly ridiculed due to her name, except that she says something snarky and sarcastic to Victoria (thank you for sharing that with us); younger children often do not even get and understand sarcasm and satire and what Victoria sorely needs and requires is direct criticism from Mrs. Chud or some other adult authority figure, actual, bona fide verbal chastisement and censure (lasting consequences, an educational deterrent and lesson, so to speak).

And even Chrysanthemum's own parents, although they do tell her their daughter that she is special (and that her name is perfect) and try to coddle her a bit at home, really also do nothing even REMOTELY useful or all that practical about the relentless bullying itself, as they neither complain at school nor do they bother with confronting the teacher. They simply and naively believe that by telling Chrysanthemum that her name is beautiful, everything will be alright, but the intimidation and nastiness just keep happening (and yes, my parents did pretty much the same when certain popular morons at school started calling me Gondola instead of Gundula and made relentless fun of my German accent, but I guess it did not much help that one of my teachers also believed it was my own fault that I was being bullied as according to him, I was supposedly not trying "hard enough" to get rid of my accent, talk about victim blaming, and sadly, my parents agreed with the teacher and simply told me to try harder, pretty rich considering that they also had a similar if not even a more pronounced German accent when speaking English).

However and that all being said, and while it does indeed and I think with some justification bother me how little and especially how few practical measures are taken by Mrs. Chud and Chrysanthemum's parents (by the majority of the adults in Chrysanthemum) to confront both the nastiness and the bullies (Victoria and her little gang of robot-like acolytes), I actually very much do both cheer and heartily applaud Kevin Henkes for not shying away from featuring, from presenting this sorry factoid, this uncomfortable scenario, as in reality, it happens far more often than any of us would care to think and even desire to consider (for while it might indeed make especially parents and caregivers such as teachers potentially uncomfortable, it is the truth, or rather, it is the unavoidable and sadly frustrating reality of bullying and how it is approached that it is often really NOT handled or rather that it is time and again not successfully and intelligently dealt with).

For to successfully combat schoolyard intimidation and nastiness, one usually and generally will need to actively confront both the bully/bullies and their unacceptable behaviours, and the only adult character to really ever do this in Chrysanthemum in any positive and thoughtful manner is Mrs. Twinkle (the popular new music teacher), probably because she knows from likely equally painful personal first-hand experience what name calling and bullying is like (having the name Delphinium). And she achieves a positive outcome and end in a manner that not only makes Chrysanthemum feel great and special about herself again, but it also makes the erstwhile bullies rather majorly ashamed and finally realise that Chrysanthemum's name is indeed not only unusual but also sweet and pretty (however, if they have actually learned their lessons on a permanent and lasting basis, that will of course remain to be seen, as this is left open by Kevin Henkes).

Now while I do realise that some readers tend to chafe a bit at the ending, the epilogue (where Chrysanthemum giggles because her erstwhile nemesis Victoria has forgotten her assigned musicale lines), on a purely emotional and personal level, and after all of the relentless and loathsome teasing she has had to endure, I can certainly very well understand Chrysanthemum's reaction (her giggling at Victoria). And really, all she does is giggle a bit, not particularly friendly and nice, I guess, but Chrysanthemum does NOT in any way attempt to nastily and viciously humiliate Victoria in front of the entire class (which is precisely what Victoria does with Chrysanthemum, and on numerous occasions, like when she raises her hand and pontificates to the entire class that Chrysanthemum's name contains thirteen letters). And no, I am certainly not trying to excuse Chrysanthemum's behaviour as being in any way praiseworthy, but I can and do much understand and actually even rather appreciate it on a personal and emotional level (and think that Victoria more than richly deserves being mildly teased, as one reaps what one has sown, and a dose of one's own bitter medicine might actually and in fact be a healthy tonic for Victoria).

And now finally, and as much as I appreciate and even oh so much love Kevin Henkes' narrative, I do not really find his accompanying illustrations equally visually attractive and evocative (although I do consider the pictures bright, fun and sweetly descriptive, and a more than decent accompaniment to the presented, the featured text). For since I cannot actually find anything in the narrative which indicates that Chrysanthemum deals specifically with mice (and mouselike behaviour), I would most definitely prefer illustrations of (and a story about) human beings instead of anthropomorphic rodents (but that is a small and entirely personal pet peeve, as I have actually never liked especially human-like mice overly much, and especially not as pictorial offerings). Four stars for Kevin Henkes' Chrysanthemum and highly recommended!